Skee Mask - Pool

 Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Today, we are reviewing Skee Mask's third album and latest one at the time of writing, Pool. This was a surprise release on Bandcamp, and is also available on YouTube. I've heard talks that we doesn't have any plans of releasing it to larger streaming services, and I completely understand, given Bandcamp is a much better service from a monetary perspective. But anyway, let's get into the review.

We open on Nvivo, which starts off with some ambient field recordings and highly reverberated SFX. Then a squelchy acid basslines emerges, alongside a quiet beat and occasional synth washes. Later on, louder hi hats come in as well. A very nice opener.

Stone Cold 369 is in a similiar vein as the previous track, only this time a bit more bombastic, whilst not crossing the line of loud, glitchy beats.

LFO has an array of swirling synths and not that much in terms of a beat. Nice breath of fresh air.

Rdvnedub is a bit repetitive, given the constant bassy drum beat and echoey synth washes.

But after that, we have one of my favourite Skee Mask songs of all time, CZ3000 Dub. The sidechain drenched keys and fast paced beat sound absolutely amazing. Really puts you in a trance.

DJ Camo Bro is another hypnotic, fast paced song, with a bit louder of a beat this time.

Collapse Casual has one of the more industrial sounding beats, bringing a sudden change to the album. Still is a pretty nice tune, but not much to comment on here.

Breathing Method is a mix of acid and ambient, bringing in those squelchy basslines, alongside airy synth pads. Interesting blend, and a very pleasant listen.

Ozone is a fuzzy sounding track, due to a large majority of the sounds on here being heavily filtered. Alongside a rather boring repetitiveness, we do not find much to talk about on here.

Rio Dub is a very spacious song, filled with distorted and compressed field recordings or something, layered over dreamy synth pads, creating what I imagine a fever dream would sound like.

Testo BC Mashup opens on some loud vocal chops, which transition into fast paced drums, with a bit more of those cleaner 909 drums, and this time being a bit louder, letting the ambiance play less of an important role in here.

Dolan Tours is very similiar in sound to the previous song. Fast paced, robotic drums and smooth synth pads.

Absence is a glitchier song that doesn't feature a beat, thus mixing lush sound effects with even more synth pads.

60681z has a more bombastic beat, with not that much in terms of atmosphere.

Crosssection has weird vocal chops that play throughout the song, alongside a quiet beat and... guess what more synth pads.

Harrison Ford, whilst not having any connection to the actor, is a nice, "stuttery" song, with wind chime like synths and fast paced beats.

Pepper Boys starts off like a glitchy drum and bass song from Aphex Twin's latest EPs. But then it slowly more and more echoey, turning into a more atmospheric track, whilst still keeping the fast beat.

And finally, Fourth closes the album with some lush, chopped up synth pads, and towards the end, a familiar drum beat emerges from the shadows, quickly fading to quiet, as to let the glitchy and often unsettling synth pads play.

Now, this album features multiple highs, and very few lows, but there is one single problem I have with this album. It's almost two hours long. Many tracks on here do not deserve that length, with some going for the 6 minute mark. The soundscapes are also not as lush and clean as those on his previous album, Compro, less of an emphasis on atmosphere, and more on rhythm. Still, it's a worthwhile listen, and a fun trip through these entrancing beats and pads.

Score: 8/10